Initiating action against Satyam, government on Thursday ordered inspection of books of accounts of eight companies controlled by the IT company or its promoters, including Maytas Properties and Maytas Infrastructure. Government has also asked the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to get the internal working paper of auditing of Satyam from the statutory auditor Pricewaterhouse.

Corporate affairs minister Prem Chand Gupta said the inspection would be conducted as per the provisions of Section 209A of the Companies Act. The companies whose accounts will be verified are Maytas Properties, Maytas Infrastructure, Satyam BPO, Nipuna Services, Knowledge Dynamics, Nitor Global Solutions, Ca Satyam AS Pvt Ltd and Satyam Venture Engineering Services. Asked on the status of these companies, he said some were subsidiaries of Satyam while in some the promoters held a stake.

The working paper is considered to be important document in the investigation as it contains the strategy an audit firm adopts before undertaking audit of a company. Gupta said ICAI has sought the working paper from Pricewaterhouse within three days. Separately, ICAI president Ved Jain said the statutory body, that regulates the accounting profession in India, will take action against the the auditors in the next two to three months, if found guilty. A show-cause notice would be issued to Pricewaterhouse in a week after collecting information from Sebi and Registrar of Companies, he said.